March 31, 2004

Features

e the other press ©

Anneke Rees and Habitat for Humanity:

Providing housing and hope for families in need

Patricia Tate OP Contributor Sitting in her modest but dramati- cally painted burgundy and yellow office, Anneke Rees of Habitat for Humanity looks a little tired. Not because it’s a warm Friday afternoon and it’s stuffy in this second-floor office, or because it’s the end of a long work week, but because Rees has been up since 4am. She'd woken up thinking about ways to encour- age more high school groups to become involved with Habitat for Humanity, or Habitat, as it’s come to be known.

When I check in with Rees a few days later, she tells me, “Well, I did it again this morning, up thinking at Sam. I was thinking about putting up some hanging baskets outside the ReStore to attract the [customer's] eye.” The ReStore, a Habitat off- spring, is a second-hand store at Douglas and Goring in Burnaby that sells donated building supplies to help generate funds for its parent organization. The ReStore not only generates income, but it is an impressive environmental initiative. At the ReStore, used materials from demolitions and renovations, or new surplus materials from retail outlets such'as Home Depot, are donated and recycled, and ultimately divert- ed from landfills. “There are 140 ReStores across Canada and the US, but ReStore originally a Canadian idea,” Rees says proudly.

Anneke Rees’s pre-dawn thinking warms her up for her post-dawn thinking during her daily drive to the office above Burnaby’s ReStore. “I do lots of driving across town all day, lots of thinking in my car,” she says. All of this thinking and driving is part of Rees’s job as the Executive Director of the Habitat for Humanity Society of Greater Vancouver.

Habitat for Humanity is an inter- national non-profit organization, which, at its heart, is based on a sur- prisingly simple plan. Habitat has one goal: to build and sell houses to low-income people who could prob- ably never otherwise afford to own a home. Rees says, “Habitat is one simple model, localized all over the world.” Families who qualify for the homes must contribute 500 volun- teer hours of “sweat equity” toward their construction. Habitat provides a no-interest, long-term mortgage, and the families’ mortgage payments are ploughed back into the building of more new homes.

Rees was hired as executive direc- tor of the Greater Vancouver affiliate in November of 2003. “My job,” she says, “is to keep things bubbling along.”

Bubbling, indeed. Rees, who is diminutive in physical stature but not in energy or generosity of spirit, spends her days bustling around the Lower Mainland, sitting in on Habitat committee meetings, meet-

ing CEOs face-to-face, giving inter-

was

views—doing what she can to raise awareness of her organization, and most importantly, to raise funds for it. Rees’s staple work costume is a pair of jeans, a turtleneck, and a fleece vest. Her bright blue eyes shine from behind glasses that sit on a face that seems perpetually tanned in a healthy, sporty kind of way. Her sandy-coloured short hair is no-non- sense, as is the rest of her.

She says, “My role at Habitat is moving ideas to action. Lots of non- profit organizations have great ideas, but no follow-through.” As well as helping to implement ideas and give them momentum, it’s also Rees’s duty to track and evaluate progress. For example, if a fundraising initia- tive isn't successful, she says, she has to think about how to do it differ-

ently next time. “It’s like running a

A roomful of people with totally opposite styles and strengths is

a roomful of wisdom

company. Things have to be well planned. You have to be creative.” Although Rees is ultimately respon- sible for everything at the local Habitat affiliate, she doesn't take credit for any of the good work the organization does. That credit, she says, goes to the volunteers.

Volunteers are the backbone of Habitat, where diversity and inclu- siveness is fostered. “Everyone has something to offer. Everyone can contribute in one way or another, whether it’s putting in a build-day on the work site, or putting on a car wash to raise money,” says Rees. Habitat for Humanity has, to date, built over 150,000 dwellings in 92 countries with donated funds, tools and construction materials, almost entirely through the efforts of vol- unteers.

Here in the Lower Mainland, Habitat is at work on a 27-unit townhouse project at 8745 Government Street in Burnaby— the largest Habitat project in Canada. Rees says, “Cash flow is up and down. We can only afford to build three days a week, and we have to stop building if we run out of money or volunteers.” She says the site always needs more workers, par- ticularly good crew leaders. “We need skilled people who can show and teach those who aren’t skilled. We need teachers, leaders.” Retired construction workers are desirable volunteers, but anyone is welcome.

Many other non-profit groups in the

Lower Mainland donate days of labour, as do students and corpora- tions seeking to do some good in the community.

Rees says, “Habitat is a respected worldwide organization. An inde- pendent PR company did a survey in the US in 2002, and its results showed that Habitat for Humanity has a high brand recognition, right up there with companies like Starbucks and FedEx.” She says that Habitat’s good reputation and high ethical standards make it an appeal- ing organization to be aligned with. The trend, albeit a slow one, toward corporate social responsibility, means that companies see benefits in partnering with Habitat. Rees adds, “Habitat appeals to people on many different fronts. You feel like youre giving to something tangible.

a oe - oe

You're building something with your own hands, and you see concrete results—you can see an end. First, there’s a hole in the ground, then a house, and then a family living in the house.”

A current example of corporate partnership is appliance-maker Whirlpool’s decision to sponsor country singer Reba McEntire's 2004 US concert tour, which in turn will aim to increase awareness and support of Habitat for Humanity International. Whirlpool, a large manufacturer of major household appliances has, since 1999, supplied every new Habitat home built in North America with a new stove and fridge. Its employees volunteer time on Habitat builds in their own com- munities.

Rees notes that Habitat is the six- teenth largest homebuilder in the US, and that it builds these houses at a cost lower than any other builder. At a time when housing costs are so high, especially in Vancouver, more and more families see the possibility of home owner- ship fading. Habitat works to build awareness of this problem here in North America as well as in develop- ing countries.

Rees, who is originally from England, first became interested in the problems of accessible housing when she worked at the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements held in Vancouver in

1975-1976. The conference was a

forum for the exchange of ideas on the issues of human settlement around the world, and the increas- ing need for affordable housing. The conference featured ideas on alterna- tive methods of providing dwellings, and Rees says, “The whole thing fas- cinated me. My husband was an electrical contractor also, so I already knew something about housing. We wanted to go on a housing build somewhere in the world.”

Coincidentally, it was in 1976 that a millionaire American couple, Millard and Linda Fuller, formally created Habitat for Humanity International. The Fullers had renounced their wealth and had, for eleven years, been associated with an interracial, peace-loving Christian rural community in Georgia called

Koinonia Farms (Koinonia is the Greek word for partnership). Koinonia’s fourfold vision was to:

¢ Treat all human beings with digni- ty and justice

* Choose love over violence

¢ Share all possessions and live sim- ply

* Be stewards of the land and its nat- ural resources.

Given that this was the American South in the 60s, the Koinonia resi- dents experienced KKK harassment, excommunication from_ less-than- tolerant churches, physical abuse, and property damage. The Koinonia community managed to stay united, and eventually spawned “partner- ship housing,” an initiative that built homes for families living in rundown conditions. Koinonia’s partnership housing model was the forerunner to the organization the Fullers eventually established— Habitat for Humanity International.

Now, 28 years later, Rees can go on a housing build any time she wants, right in Burnaby. She chuckles at what she calls the serendipity in her life. Her position at Habitat, she says, is fabulous, just the right fit. Before being hired by Habitat last fall, Rees had just completed her master’s degree in leadership and training at Royal Roads University and was working as the director for individual giving at St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation. She was ready for a change. “My world was too small after my master’s,” she says.

http://www-.otherpress.ca

“Habitat provides me with a person- al challenge—it’s big enough for me.” She finds the atmosphere at Habitat positive and feels a healthy morale among the workers. “People love being there. They know they're doing good work.”

The good work Rees refers to springs from the hearts of Habitat workers from all backgrounds, all religions. Habitat as a whole, and Rees as an individual, both believe in the strength found in diversity. She says, “A roomful of people with totally opposite styles and strengths is a roomful of wisdom.”

Although Habitat was founded as a Christian ministry, Rees feels that the Vancouver affiliate may be more secular than some others. She thinks of herself as a spiritual rather than religious person, and feels her lack of

4

affiliation with a particular faith does not interfere with her sense of belonging at Habitat. She says, “There is a lot of discussion about whether we should call ourselves a Christian-based, or a faith-based, or even an anything-at-all-based organ- ization.” For Rees, the label is a non- issue. What's important to her is what she calls a values match between people and organizations, and that as a leader she lives by and demonstrates the values of inclusive- ness and kindheartedness.

On Saturday, April 3 at 8pm, another non-profit group that shares Rees’s values will perform a benefit concert for Habitat for Humanity. Vancouver's interfaith Universal Gospel Choir, under the direction of Brian Tate, will be at New Westminster's Olivet —_ Baptist Church, providing an evening of roof-raising world music to raise funds for Habitat. Rees says, “Things come along at just the right time.” The Universal Gospel Choir seeks to inspire hope one song at a time, and Habitat seeks to do the same, one home at a time. A values match, without a doubt.

To pre-order tickets to the Habitat for Humanity Benefit Concert on April 3, call 604.681.5618. Tickets for students and seniors are $12; regu- lar tickets are $15. For more informa- tion on Habitat for Humanity in Greater Vancouver, go to: <www.van- couverhabitat.be.ca>.

Page 17